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The Federal Communications Commission has granted a license to FirstNet for 20 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum. FirstNet will use the spectrum to support a nationwide network for first responders. The move, which was expected, is a crucial milestone in network development.

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Texas state officials and FirstNet have agreed on a three-year spectrum-management-lease agreement aimed at providing Harris County with long-term certainty to operate its 4G public safety network that launched in 2012. The county's Long-Term Evolution Network had benefited from a temporary Federal Communications Commission license to operate in the 700 MHz band licensed to FirstNet.

FirstNet is extending its ability to negotiate a spectrum lease deal with Texas to Nov. 26 -- the second time it has pushed back a deadline for agreement. Both sides say progress has been made in talks to use Band 14 700 MHz airwaves for development of the nationwide broadband network for first responders. "It would be a shame, if we just ... stand still for the next two years and nothing gets done. I think FirstNet sees it that way, as well," said Bob Schassler, senior vice president of government solutions for Motorola Solutions, which is the vendor for the Harris County LTE network.

The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System signed a spectrum lease with FirstNet to use its 700 MHz spectrum to test plans for developing the nationwide broadband network for first responders. LA-RICS is the first Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grantee to come to accord with FirstNet, and its project is expected to include some 300 wireless sites and a combination of new and established infrastructure.

The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System recently approved a spectrum-lease agreement with FirstNet, marking the first time a jurisdiction has taken this step toward developing a public-safety LTE network for first responders on 700 MHz airwaves.
LA-RICS is the first to approve the spectrum-lease agreement out of seven jurisdictions that received grants to participate in the LTE network. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which suspended the program more than a year ago, says it will advance the project once all seven have approved the agreement.

States might pool money from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and coordinate efforts to establish their parts of the nationwide public-safety LTE network. Charlotte, N.C., is working with the state of North Carolina and might bring in South Carolina on centralized planning, while Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia have created a Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Interoperable Nationwide Advanced Communications to manage regional network build-out.